Brazilian Soccer Riot Breaks Out, Police Fire Rubber Bullets (Video)

In a story that will probably not help Brazil‘s ongoing publicity campaign in light of the country’s upcoming duties as host to both the 2014 FIFA World Cup and the 2016 Summer Olympics, a fan riot during Sunday’s league game between Vasco da Gama and Atletico Paranaense got so out of hand that rubber bullets were fired into the crowd by police – and that was just one act of violence that erupted during the incident.

Even more unfortunately, the riot was just one piece of what’s become a troubling trend of soccer-related violence across Brazil. In fact, the Vasco da Gama vs. Atletico Paranaense game was actually moved to a “neutral” stadium after Paranaense’s Curitiba was nixed due to incidents of fan violence and rioting there.

As horrifying as this incident is, it’s far from the worst of violence involving soccer in Brazil. Earlier in the year, an amateur soccer referee stabbed a player in the middle of a game, killing him, only to have his head cut off and left on a stake by enraged fans! And no, I’m not making that up, as this articlein the Daily Mail will attest.

Anyway, you can see video of the recent Brazilian soccer fan riot below. Hopefully this situation won’t get any worse before the World Cup and Olympics take place in Brazil.